at sunset - fanlisting for Soren

Fanlistings?

What is a fanlisting? It's pretty much what it sounds; a list of fans of a certain subject. In this case, that subject is Soren, a character from the video game Fire Emblem: Souen no Kiseki. If you'd like more information or links to fanlistings, head on over to TheFanlistings.Org, or AnimeFanlistings.Org for anime/manga-specific ones.

Fire Emblem?

The Fire Emblem series is quite a long one (the tenth game is currently in production for the Nintendo Wii), although it wasn't until the seventh instalment in the series that the Western world was officially introduced to the strategy series (outside of those who chose to import, of course). (Technically, the first introduction came from the game Super Smash Brothers Melee, where two Fire Emblem characters -Marth and Roy, the protagonists of FE1/3 and FE6, respectively- were playable characters. Some say that their popularity among Western gamers played a large role in the decision to translate the Fire Emblem games.

Fire Emblem is a strategy series; the particular game that we're concerned with, Fire Emblem: Souen no Kiseki (Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance) was the first instalment in the series to be in 3D, and the first (and only) Fire Emblem title to appear on Nintendo's GameCube. So far, it stands alone in the series, although the title currently in development (referred to by most as FE10 or Fire Emblem Wii, as no official name has been announced) seems to be a sequel, something not uncommon in the series. Fire Emblem: Souen no Kiseki follows the tale of Ike, the son of a man named Greil who runs a small mercenary company. When their home country of Crimea is invaded by another country, Daein, the mercenaries find themselves mixed up in the war due to inadvertantly becoming the bodyguard escort for Elincia, the princess of Crimea. Along the way, they recruit various others, some to join their mercenaries and some to join Elincia's army. The entire game takes place over the space of roughly a year, and is decidedly my personal favourite in the series. It doesn't break much new ground, but it refines all of the previous Fire Emblem gameplay mechanics perfectly.

Soren?

Soren would probably be called one of the main characters, although given the game's massive cast, it's really hard to say. He is a young mage who was training with the Greil Mercenaries to eventually be their staff officer/tactician, but left to go to Crimea's capital, to further hone his magic and tactical skills. It's Soren who returns bearing the news of Crimea's invasion. A serious young man, Soren doesn't believe in mincing his words and can frequently be quite hurtful (and he doesn't seem to particularly mind when he is). His loyalty, however, to Ike and the Greil Mercenaries, is unshakeable, even though he openly disapproves of some of their actions (such as initially aiding Elincia). The reason for Soren's loyalty to Ike is largely due to his childhood; Soren had a rather depressing upbringing, which is fully revealed in his support conversations with Ike (although only hinted at a few times in the main plot), and was eventually taken in by Ike's family after almost dying out on the streets.

Soren's dark secret, revealed in his support conversations with Ike and Stefan, is that he is a 'Branded', half beorc (human) and half laguz (a half human, half animal race). While there aren't many outward physical signs of this, save for the mark on his forehead and (possibly) his red eyes, it's something that Soren takes to heart; he tries to keep his heritage as secret as possible. Although several characters find out throughout thet game, it isn't something that's a major plot point, more of a side plot (much like Jill's character side plot).

I've always found that Soren's one of my best, if not the best character I've had in battle, even after various replays on Normal and Hard modes. He's not too difficult to train up at first if treated like an Archer/Sniper and not placed in harm's way; giving him the first couple of Angelic Robes you receive (at least the first one, anyway) also helps greatly, and the Speedwing if you can part with it. Soren's main stat weakness is his painful strength growth, although most of his other stats will max out; even his defence usually grows to a respectable amount. Giving him a Wyvern/Knight Band doesn't go astray, either. Soren's other weakness is his lack of supports, although it's a weakness that many characters in Souen no Kiseki share; generally, I give him an A-support with Ike and a B-support with Stefan (Ike who's always compulsory and Stefan who's a wonderful unit). By the time he gets to around Level 5 Sage, he can usually stand up against most enemies, even Paladins, although giving him the Vantage skill virtually guarantees that by the end of the game. Generally speaking, compared to the other Mages and Sages on offer (I found Ilyana too slow, by the time I got Tomord Soren was usually a Sage with a few levels on him, Calill and Bastian sadly use Knives, something pointless given a Sage's low strength cap), I found Soren to be vastly better. I found his stats somewhat comparable to Nino from Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken (replacing her Con deficiency with his Strength deficiency, although they have the same effect), except that Soren is playable from very early on in the game.

Why?

Because Soren's decidedly my favourite Fire Emblem character. He's wonderful in battle (the RNG loves him) and a genuinely deep and interesting character. I found his interactions with Ike to be genuinely really interesting, and I was very relieved to see that he wasn't going to meet an unfortunate end/betray the group (something I'm kind of paranoid about with my powerful characters). Also, I loved his various little speeches, particularly his mini-rant in Toha; it helped add a lot of depth to not just his character, but the entire situation. I just all-around find him to be a really interesting character, and I'm really happy that I got the chance to run a fanlisting for him. ^^